


life i wanna know

by EllieLovesYou



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Divorce, F/F, F/M, Kid Fic, more tags to be added and more people will be introduced, obviously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-10 14:53:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5590423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieLovesYou/pseuds/EllieLovesYou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>four adults. two children. one story for them all.</p><p> </p><p>or the one where they were married at one point now they're divorced and have a child and everyone's falling for everyone and no one's quite sure what's happening or how it's possible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. clichéd and rushed

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Welcome to my first multi chapter story for 'Arrow' and 'The Flash'! I am beyond excited for this story and can't wait to really get into it and whatnot but, for now, this is just the set up for the whole story...so, please enjoy!
> 
> (any mistakes are mine so please excuse them)

Their story wasn’t one for the books. It was a clichéd little tale of the nerdy girl and the bad boy of the high school falling in love—something the movies have played out over and over and over again. There wasn’t anything interesting about their love or special—it was just their's.

And it lasted for ten years. 6 years of marriage. One child.

That’s how long it lasted before they divorced and separated their lives as much as they could with a child between the two of them.

“we did pretty good, right?” he’s sitting on the couch, she’s on the far end and she just nods “my mom thinks we’re rushing the decision to divorce” it kinda leaves a bad taste in his mouth—the word ‘divorce’ but he swallows and lets it settle on his tongue. He supposes that he has to get used to saying it because he was going to be divorced and this was going to be his ex-wife.

“I’ll talk to her”

“Probably for the best, she’s always liked you a little better”

She laughs a little “I’ll miss that house, for sure”

“Hey” she looks over at him and sees how his hand is outstretched; she takes it and lets a sigh leave her “I love you”

She smiles and squeezes his hand “I love you too”

He lets go and she feels a pang of sadness hit her—she knows this is what they both deserve. What their daughter deserves and it was their choice to end their marriage but it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt; it doesn’t mean that when she gets an apartment of her own that she won’t cry because she’s alone. It doesn’t mean all of this doesn’t hurt.

“So about—“ she raises her hand cutting him off

“You should have primary custody. Your parents, my parents and everything else is over there and I’m here—just please promise me I’ll see her”

“You are her mama. You will always see her” she smiles and pushes herself up from the couch

“Thank you, Oliver”

“No problem, Cait”

Yes, Caitlin Snow and Oliver Queen fell in love at the tender age of sixteen years old. Now they’re both 26 and know it’s time to part as much as they can.

 

-

 

Rushed.

That is the word that she would use for their marriage. Their relationship too, if she’s being honest, but mostly the marriage. They met her first year at MIT. He didn’t go there but he was a frequent goer at the coffee shop she went to and they just caught each other’s eye—and that became something pretty quickly.

It was only after a year of dating that he proposed and she isn’t sure if she was feeling sentimental or if she was drunk but she said ‘yes’ and they were married six months later. And of course she just had to go get pregnant after about a year of marriage. She’s was 4 months pregnant when she said the words ‘this isn’t working out’ to him.

He was heartbroken and she was confused.

They were officially divorced when their daughter was a month old.

“You can’t be surprised”

He shrugs “I’m not”

“I do love you but this—“ she gestures to their small apartment and the space between them “Was so rushed. We didn’t take time to date, to plan the wedding or to, you know, have this baby”

“I love you too”

“That’s the problem” she sits down next to him and grabs his hands “You only hear part of my sentence. You only want to see the good and that isn’t a bad thing but—you need to see the bad sometimes too. To fully understand what’s happening”

“I just—I wanted to live out this life with you”

“No you don’t. You just thought you did but—“ she grabs his face gently and makes him look at her “You are gonna find the one you actually want to spend your life with and when you do—you’re gonna know this isn’t want you wanted”

“The baby…”

“You’re her dad” she rests her hand on her bump “You’re gonna be in her life, I swear”

“I—“ he sighs “I do love you, Felicity”

“And I love you Barry. Just not enough and we both deserve enough”

Felicity Smoak and Barry Allen were rushed. That’s the only word that the blonde knows how to properly describe them.

 

-

 

Everyone is 27 years old now.

Oliver took his and Caitlin’s daughter and moved back to their hometown of Starling City—Caitlin stayed in Central City but she saw her daughter often. They had been divorced for a year now and both now it was the best decision to make, they’re best friends and it confuses everyone around them but they know what’s there and what’s not there.

Felicity and Barry had been divorced for nearly 6 years and their daughter lived with Felicity just because she had lived with her mother since she was born. She sees her dad so often it’s like she lives with him and goes with him every other weekend. Their relationship has crumbled and they wouldn’t even call each other friends—they wanted to be friends but at the end of the day, they just weren’t but they do try.  So Felicity knows it’s only right to tell him her news; “I’m moving”

He does a double take and nearly drops their six year old daughter “What?”

“I got a really good job offer over there. It pays more, the benefits are great and we can finally send her to a decent school”

Barry shakes his head and tries to compose his thoughts “W-Where is it?”

“Not far”

“Felicity…”

She sighs and crosses her arms over her chest “Starling City”

“That’s—that’s a while train ride away” he puts down their daughter who was simply looking back and forth between her parents

“Ah—I think you mean it’s _only_ a train ride away” she tries to joke but it often, like now, doesn’t work out.

“Felicity don’t take her from me”

“I’m not taking her, Barry. You’ll still her all the time”

“Not as much as she’s used to”

“Barry, this is a really good opportunity for me. For her. Please support this”

“and if I don’t?”

The blonde sighs and uncrosses her arms and lets them hang by her side “I mean, I won’t take it then” her words are filled with sadness and they are slightly irritated but overall she’s sincere when she says it.

“Really?”

“Yes—if you won’t support it, then I won’t take the job”

He raises a brow “Why?”

“Because the idea of going through a custody battle is not something I would like to put my child through”

He sighs and looks down at his daughter who looks utterly confused. They really should stop fighting in front of her “Just—take it, Felicity”

“really?”

“Really. Just promise me I’ll see her still”

“Promise”

 

-

 

“I’m nervous” Felicity looks down at her daughter, her hair is brown like her father’s but she had Felicity’s blue eyes, and most importantly, she inherited her dad’s sweet persona and his way with people

“You’ll be fine, bug” the blonde assures her small daughter

The little girl takes a step forward but her mother’s grip on her hand doesn’t lessen, she looks up at her mother “Mama, if you don’t let go of my hand, I can never see if I’ll be fine”

“I’m nervous too” Felicity admits softly, her hand not letting go of her daughter’s hand

“You’ll be fine, mama” she assures her mother

“Promise?”

Her eyes sparkle and she kisses her mom’s hand “Promise now let’s do this”

 

-

 

Felicity is so nervous she’s 60% sure she’s shaking. She just wishes she could have her daughter by her side; she usually takes the attention away from Felicity in any situation. Taking a deep breath and smoothing her skirt of any wrinkles, she raises her hand and knocks on the door she was instructed to go to.

The door swings open and a man stands in front of her “Yeah?”

“Hi!” she shakes her head and makes herself take a breath “I mean, um, I—I’m Felicity Smoak”

“Oh yeah well, um, welcome to the IT department of Queen Consolidated. Your office is down the hall so, yeah” his tone is very uninterested

“Thank you” she nods and stands there for a second “Is, um, is there something I should do when I get in there or…?”

“Alice will bring by some small stuff to start you off, sweetheart” she has to stop herself from rolling her eyes “For now, just go there”

“yeah, okay. Thanks” she moves as soon as the words leave her mouth—she already didn’t like her boss. So that’s off to a great start.

 

-

 

When Oliver moved to Starling a recently divorced man, everybody thought he was going to revert back to old ways and be irresponsible but, of course, he shocked everyone. He quickly found an apartment for him and his daughter, being he didn’t want to relay on other people to help raise his little girl, then he went to his father and asked to shadow him—so he could be ready for the title of CEO when the time came. He stepped up and did what he had to do.

Robert Queen, unfortunately, suffered a heart attack 5 months after Oliver came home and Oliver’s mother and Robert’s wife, Moira, insisted he step down and let the stress of being CEO fall on someone who doesn’t have a bad heart and hadn’t been doing it for the last 20 years or so. So he did.

And now for the last 6 months Oliver has been acting CEO of Queen Consolidated and doing a fine job.

“Hey Ollie” he looked up at the familiar voice and smiled brightly

“Caity” he stood up and hugged her—they hadn’t seen each other in a little while being Oliver was constantly busy and hadn’t been able to drop off their daughter in sometime, usually Thea or Moira would take her “I missed you”

“Missed you more” they pull back “If I had known that all I had to do to see you was to take some time off and make an appointment, I would’ve done it sooner”

He sighs “Sorry I haven’t been the one dropping her off lately, it’s just that—“ he looks around “it takes a good chunk of time being CEO”

“It’s okay, I don’t blame you but I will blame you if you can’t do lunch right at this very moment”

He smiles “I’m sure I can manage it, now let’s go”

 

-

 

“Hmm” she hums while she takes a sip from her wine glass “I’m sure the tabloids are going to have a field day with this”

He laughs “They don’t have much to go off of anymore. I don’t go out unless I’m with our girl so every time you visit they get something to work with”

“They really don’t understand the meaning of ‘divorced’ do they?”

“To be fair—I don’t think we know either. I mean almost everyone hates their ex or at least doesn’t do lunch with them every time they come into town”

“You’re my best friend” she says in between bites of food and smirks “and besides your family likes me better than you.”

 

-

 

“Okay class we have a new student today” the whole class of small children looked up to where their teacher was standing, a little girl with brown hair and blue eyes right next to her “Please meet Caroline Allen” she nudges the little girl in front of her slightly “Okay, sweetheart, you can go sit next to the little girl in the back. Miss Sophia, please raise your hand”

A blonde with blue eyes raises her hand and the little brunette quickly goes over and plops down next to her “Hi, I’m Caroline Nora Allen” she said politely and stating her whole name, she liked that she was named after her nana.

The little blonde smiles “I’m Sophia Emerson Queen”

A beautiful friendship was born that day and six lives are never the same after that.


	2. settling in and dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner, settling in and some big news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it feels like the story isn't moving much but now that I've kinda set everything up, things should start moving a little more and the story will be a little more enjoyable and I'll start to incorporate a little more Barry as the story goes on, he's a big character in this but like I said, I was just trying to set everything up. So please, enjoy!

The doors to small elementary school opened and a sea of little children poured out of the building to the front where a very excited Caitlin was practically bouncing, excited to see her daughter even though it had only been a few days. She scanned the sea of kids but was apparently found first because she hears a very familiar shrill of ‘mommy!’ before legs are knocked with the weight of her daughter, she easily plucks the little girl from the ground and hugs her tightly

“Hey baby” she mumbles into the little girl’s blonde curls—she was Oliver Queen’s daughter in every way; her hair, her eyes and her smile.

Sophia hugged her arms around her mother’s neck and squeezed “What are you doing here mommy?”

“I’m here to see my favorite girl, of course” Caitlin kissed her forehead “And, also, so you, daddy and I can have dinner with your favorite aunts, yeah?”

The little blonde’s eyes twinkled with excitement, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth “Oh! Aunt Sara and Aunt Nyssa?”

“Yes but remember we don’t say that in front of Aunt Thea” Caitlin said in faux seriousness—everyone knew that Sophia loved Sara and Nyssa almost unfairly. The little girl nodded and seemed to remember something

“Oh! Mommy come meet my new friend!” she scrambled from her mother’s arms and grabbed her hand yanking her along back towards the school “She’s really pretty and her name is Caroline!”  Caitlin easily saw the little lone girl waiting on the steps of the school and she looked around for a parent but saw nothing but other parents meeting up with their children, her train of thought was broken when her daughter screamed the little girl’s name “Caroline! Come meet my mommy!”

The brunette smiled the sweetest little smile and stood up, smoothing her hands over her dress before sticking her hand out “Hi” her voice was light and sweet “I’m Caroline Nora Allen”

Caitlin smiled and crouched down to her height “Hi, sweetheart. My name is Caitlin and I’m Sophia’s mommy” she looked around “Where’s your mommy, sweetheart?”

“Oh she’s coming—mama’s always late”

No sooner did she say that did a frantic looking blonde round the corner “Oh God” she was out of breath and walked over to them while swallowing large gulps of air “I’m sorry, bug” she took in another large gulp of air “I was trying to get out of work but—“

“I know mama” she looks to Caitlin and Sophia “Mama, this is my new friend and her mommy”

“Oh” the blonde smooths out her skirt just how her child had done a minute earlier and sticks out her hand “Hi. Felicity Smoak”

Caitlin smiled and took the outstretched hand “Caitlin Snow and this is—“ she nudges Sophia in front of her “Is my daughter Sophia”

“Oh she’s precious” she’s about to say something else but her skirt being tugged on took her attention, she looked down at her daughter who’s eyes were wide

“Mama, we’re gonna be late” she complained softly

Felicity sighs “Right, right” she turns to Caitlin and Sophia “Sorry to rush off but little one goes crazy if she doesn’t see her daddy so gotta go but it was really nice meeting you”

Caitlin nods “You too” she watches the two of them walk off and sighs before looking down at her daughter “Let’s go get you ready for dinner, yeah?”

 

-

 

Felicity isn’t even through the apartment door before she hears her daughter already opening her laptop and turning it on, the older blonde drops her bags by the door and locks the door. She turns around to see her tiny daughter already typing in her password—there was no way this wasn’t her child.

“Mama he’s supposed to be on! It’s four!” her daughter complained loudly at the lack of her father on the small screen

She laughs and sits down on the couch (the only real piece of furniture that she was able to get in so far) and pulls her daughter onto her lap “Give him a minute, bug. Daddy’s gotta get home first”

“But mama—“ her words are interrupted when the laptop rings and Barry’s picture pops up on the screen, the little girl quickly hits accept “Daddy!”

“Hey, baby” he’s smiling so big, Felicity can only imagine that his face is hurting “I miss you, bug”

“I miss you too, daddy but I like it here”

“You do? What do you like about it?”

Felicity gets up from the couch just as her daughter goes into a long winded rant and decides to go rummage around in the kitchen to give them a second to talk without her there. She leans against the counter and takes a deep breath—if she was being honest, the move took a toll on her.

She had lived in Vegas for the first eighteen years of her life and when she moved to Central City, it became her new home and now here she is starting over and she feels bad for making her small child do the same.

A loud ring takes her attention and she looks down to see her best friend’s face flashing across the screen, she quickly hits ‘accept’ and brings the phone to her face “Hey”

“So how was your first day?” always to the point.

“I don’t know” she shrugs even though she knows she can’t see it “I feel a little worn and my boss called me ‘sweetheart’—“

“Gross”

“Yeah so now I’m just adjusting to the apartment and everything”

“No new best friends, right? I don’t have to go over there and kick anyone’s ass, yet?”

Felicity laughs “No, Iris—no new best friends. _Yet_ ”

Iris scoffs “Excuse me. I think we both know you aren’t getting anything better than me, thank you very much”

“yeah, yeah”

“But you should make friends so you aren’t a complete loner—so no friends at all?”

“I met a few women at work. Alice, Lucy and Elliot and then there was this guy, Adam, but I’m pretty sure he didn’t even look in my eyes once”

“Nothing else?”

“Nah. I mean Caroline made a friend and I met her mom so—“

“Friend material?”

“Don’t know. Your goddaughter pulled me away before I could even speak to her”

“Remind me to talk to her about her wing woman skills. Girl’s gotta step it up so she’s not stuck hearing you talk all day”

“Excuse you, she loves talking to me”

“That’s just what she tells you”

Felicity opens her mouth to retort but Caroline comes bounding in “Mama, daddy wants to talk to you”

She puts her phone to her chest as she listens to her daughter “Okay, bug, I’ll be out in a sec” she puts her phone to her face “gotta go. Barry wants to talk”

“Okay I should probably go too—my boss looks like he doesn’t like me being on the phone”

She laughs “Bye Iris”

“Bye Licity”

The blonde hangs up and places her phone on the counter and goes back to the living room to see her daughter still talking to Barry over Skype, she plops down and kisses her daughter’s head “How about you go to your room real quick, bug? So daddy and I can talk?”

Caroline looks hesitant and cocks her head to the side “Will you call me before he hangs up so I can say ‘bye’?”

“Yes, yes now go pumpkin butt” she pats her daughter on the bottom as the little girl scurries to her room and looks back to the computer “Okay, what’s up?”

“Everything okay? You settling in okay?”

She nods “For the most part. My boss is kinda a dick and our daughter has more friends than me but, ya know, same as in Central”

He laughs lightly “Come on, Lis you had friends”

“I had Iris and you and I don’t even know if your ex-husband slash baby daddy counts”

“Still you had Iris”

“Very funny” Felicity deadpans

“but seriously—you’re settling in okay?”

“Yeah I—“ she looks around “I won’t lie to you. It’s weird not being in Central and it’s even weirder not seeing you and Iris and having Jitters coffee everyday but I’ll adjust”

“Good” he sighs “It’s just—I worry. About Caroline, obviously but you too, Lis”

“I’m okay, Barry. Look I still need to take care of a few things so I have to go but there is a very eager little girl waiting to tell you ‘bye’”

“Okay just remember that Central is here still. Just in case”

She nods and manages a small smile “bye Barry”

“Bye Felicity”

 

-

 

“yeah daddy she’s real pretty” Sophia and Caitlin had met up with Oliver at QC and was now walking to Sara and Nyssa’s apartment, the little blonde was on a little rant of who her new friend was while holding each of her parents’ hands swinging happily between them.

“Is she?”

“Yeah! She said that her parents are divorced like you two” the adults spare a look that the child would miss—Sophia had never really seemed to be affected by their divorce, she was only five when they ended the marriage and neither of them saw a drastic change in her “She said her daddy lives in Central City” she looks to her mom “Like you mommy!”

“Really?”

“yeah she said her mommy got a new job and they moved here cause it was a good job” they arrive in front of Sara and Nyssa’s apartment building and Oliver tugs the door open letting Caitlin and Sophia pass through the door “she also said that she’s named after her nana!” They step into the elevator and Sophia looks between her parents “Why wasn’t I named after grandma?”

“Because Soph—Moira just didn’t fit you”

“what about mimi?” she asked referring to Caitlin’s mother

Oliver chuckled “Well your mimi had a lot of say in what we named you”

The elevator dinged and the doors open letting the family pass through “Mimi named me?”

Caitlin shrugged “Kinda—she liked the name Sophia and, well, we liked it too. Plus, you know, we liked what it meant”

“What’s it mean?”

“Wisdom or wise, boo” Oliver supplies as they arrive in front of Sara and Nyssa’s door, and knocking.

“So smart?” she questions

“exactly”

The conversation ends as the door swings open to reveal an already beaming blonde  “Aunt Sara!” Sophia jumps the little space between them and wraps her arms around her neck.

“Soph!” the older blonde catches the little girl easily and hugs her tightly “I missed you, boo”

“I missed you too” she looks over the blonde’s shoulder “Where’s Nyssa?”

Sara feigns hurt “What? I’m not enough for you”

“No but I just really love Aunt Nyssa too and you have to share her” her tone is very serious and it makes Sara smile

“Is that so?”

“Yup. Mommy and daddy say you have to share”

“Well I guess I can spare some time” she puts Sophia on the floor “She’s in the living room” with that she’s off before anyone can say anything else. Sara turns her attention to Oliver and Caitlin “Your girl needs to work on hiding who her favorites are”

Oliver smiles and hugs her “Please you love that she obviously loves you and Nyssa”

“fair” she pulls back and looks to Caitlin and pulls her into a hug “Hey Caity-cat”

“Sara” she hugs her tightly “I miss you”

“me too” they pull back “rather have you than Ollie”

“Excuse you”

Sara laughs “No offense” she steps back “Now come in before Nyssa comes looking for you”

Nyssa and Oliver’s strange friendship never failed to people look twice—even after ten odd years. They had met their first year of high school and ever since, they’ve been stuck at the hip.

Oliver and Caitlin quickly walk in and make their way to the living room where Sophia was sitting on Nyssa’s lap, talking animatedly about her new friend and her name meaning while she stroked Sara and Nyssa’s dog with one hand and played with Nyssa’s hair with the other.

“Nyssa” Sara says loudly because, really, she got lost in the way Sophia talked and talked and talked. She was a babbling little thing and Nyssa and Caitlin are the only ones who can seem to listen to every word but Nyssa when above that and hung on every word—there was nothing she loved more than hearing about the little girl’s day.

The raven haired woman looked up and smiled brightly, she kisses Sophia’s temple “Let me say hello to your parents and then we can continue this conversation, little one”

Sophia huffs and hops off her lap “Okay but come right back, okay?”

“Okay” she quickly gets up from the couch and hugs Oliver “Hello husband”

Oliver smiles—it was a running joke that Oliver’s first wife had always been Nyssa, the first lady in his life that he loved besides his mom and sister. There was nothing actually there though being Nyssa was as into women as Oliver was so the joke never hurt Sara or Caitlin’s feelings—if anything, they both encouraged it because it was cute in their eyes; tough as nails Nyssa and Oliver calling each other husband and wifey.

“hey, wifey” he kisses her temple “How are you?”

“Good, good. Haven’t seen you or—“ she looked past Oliver and to Caitlin “you enough” she hugged Caitlin “How have you been, sweetheart?”

“Busy with the new job at Star Labs but other than that, good”

“Hm, don’t run yourself too ragged or else we’re gonna have to drag you back to Starling to make sure you take care of yourself”

Caitlin laughed “I’ll be sure to remember that”

“aunt Nyssa!” all the adults looked to Sophia who had stomped her foot “You said ‘hi’ now please come back”

Nyssa laughed “Okay, okay but only because you said please” she quickly took her place back on the couch and the little blonde scrambled on her lap and started talking again.

“I swear” Sara mumbled “She has my wife more whipped than I do”

 

-

 

“Mama?” Felicity looked up from her bed (it was really just a couple of blankets thrown on top of each other with some pillows thrown at the end being her bed hadn’t arrived from Central yet)

“Yeah baby?”

The little girl quietly walked over and sat down next to her mom, cuddling into her side—Caroline was never loud child. Even as a baby she was quiet and reserved like how both her parents could be but not their actual personalities “I like it here”

Felicity wraps an arm around her daughter’s shoulders and plays with the end of her hair “I sense a but coming, bug”

“but I miss daddy”

The blonde sighs “I know, baby and I’m sorry that you can’t see him as often as you’re used to”

“it’s not your fault, mama. It’s just—I miss him”

“You’ll see him every day, bug just on the computer instead of in person”

Caroline looks up at her mom “Will I ever see daddy in person in person again?”

“Oh course, bug—in fact, this weekend you will”

A beat of silence falls over them before she speaks again “Were you and daddy ever married?”

Felicity is taken aback by the question; she had never asked them before about their relationship status, in fact, it seemed to no interest her at all “I, um, yeah”

“When?”

“Before you were born”

“why did you break up?”

“Bug, baby, what’s with all the questions?”

She shrugs “I dunno. It’s just that everybody else’s mama and daddy are together”

Felicity tugs the little girl closer to her and lays her cheek on her head and rubs her arm soothingly “there’s never bothered you before, baby”

“I know” she mumbles “but it’s just—I just think I miss daddy” the blonde sighs, Caroline was a smart little girl and it wasn’t like she didn’t like to show emotion, it was just she didn’t like to put anything on her mom or dad because she can feel the tension that the move caused—she could feel the tension anytime her parents fought or disagreed on something.

“Talk to me, bug”

“I just wanna sleep” Felicity looks at her tablet and sees that it’s only 8 o’clock, but she sighs and nods against her daughter’s head “Okay, baby—lets go to sleep”

They shimmy under the top blanket and cuddle together; Felicity sighs and kisses Caroline’s head. Maybe her sweet little reserved baby girl would talk to her tomorrow.

 

-

 

“Okay so” Oliver looked up to see Nyssa reaching over and grabbing Sara’s hand across the table “we have some news”

“okay, lay it on us”

“Well” Sara smiled “Sophia is going to have a cousin soon”

Caitlin choked on her wine, she sputtered and coughed while she wiped the mouth with the back of her hand “Oh my god” a smile stretched across her face “Oh my god, guys!”

“I know, I know” Nyssa looked to Oliver “Oliver?”

He seemed to snap out of his daze “I—you guys are having a baby?”

Sara nodded eagerly “Nyssa’s 3 and half months pregnant”

“I—this is amazing” he stood up “Now come on, get up and give me a hug” she let out a breath and stood up and hugged him tightly “this is amazing, Nys”

Caitlin stood up an hugged and Sara “Congrats guys, really—this is amazing”

Sophia looked between all the adults in her room “Mommy?” Caitlin looked up “What’s up, boo?”

“What’s going on?”

“well Aunt Sara and Aunt Nyssa are having a baby”

The little girl stayed silent for a second before looking at Nyssa and Sara “Am I still gonna be your best girl?”

Sara smiled and walked over to the little girl, she crouched down and cupped her face “You, my sweet love-bug, will always be my boo, my girl”

“Promise?”

“Promise” she confirmed with a nod

“Okay then—“ she  smiled “Then I’m happy for you”

“Really?”

Sophia nods “Really”

 

-

 

After dinner, Caitlin escorted Oliver and Sophia back to their apartment. After tucking her little girl into bed and kissing her head and telling her ‘goodnight’, Caitlin was walked back to her car by Oliver while his trusted neighbors, John and Lyla watched over the sleeping Sophia “thank you for letting me see her”

“She’s yours too”

“Still—thank you for not keeping me away”

Oliver smiles “I’d never keep you away, Caity. You and Soph are still my girls”

“and you’re still my guy”

He tugs her into a hug and kisses her head “love you, Caity”

“Love you too” they pull back “See you in a few days, Ol”

“See ya”

 

-

 

“thanks for keeping an eye out for her, Lyla”

“No problem” she’s about to walk out when she turns on her heel “Oh, hey, there’s a new neighbor that moved in downstairs—she’s a single mom and John and I are gonna go welcome her if you want in”

“Sure” he nods “What’s her name?”

“Um, Felicity” Lyla shakes her head “Smoak, I think—all I know is she’s got a cute little girl”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll be there—I’ll try to bring Soph but Caitlin might take her. You know us—there’s never a set schedule”

“okay, great—see you there”

 

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe leave a comment and tell me what you think? I'd like to hear what you think about this so far.
> 
> you can also hit me up on tumblr at prettybird-smoak.tumblr.com


	3. accidents and set ups

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He runs into her. Literally.  
> -  
>  Lyla thinks he's lonely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I be honest for a second? I don't entirely like my writing for this chapter for some reason and it feels rushed to me but then I'm like it's not?? Or is it?? Idk.
> 
> Anyways--enjoy!

Barry Allen needed his coffee—anybody will vouch for that. His ex-wife, his daughter, his friends, his boss, everyone knew the man needed his coffee.  Sure, his sunny disposition wasn’t caffeine fueled and it was just his personality but he still needed his coffee—it made being nice easier.

So he stopped by this little hole in the wall coffee shop that was down the street from his apartment, every morning without fail. He knew every barista, customer and bus boy; it was his favorite place in the world most days.

There was never an incident that made being there unhappy—Felicity had only ever gone with him a handful of times and it never ended in an argument, Caroline had loved going and ordering a hot chocolate and spending time with her dad, and, most of all, his mom had introduced it to him when he was younger—happy memories were embedded in the walls and a warmth engulfed him every time he walked into the coffee place.

So he’s absolutely horrified when an unhappy, mostly embarrassing, incident happens.

He had just ordered his usual medium coffee (sugar and cream, seven units of each) and sugar cookie (he has a sugar problem if you can’t tell), and spun around to head to work when he slammed into a woman. His ‘dad’ reflexes caused him to tilt the mildly hot coffee towards himself rather than some poor stranger but it splashed all over her shoes and stained the bottom of her skirt.

“I—oh my god” he stutters out, he looks down at the cup on the floor and then looks to the brown haired womam “I—I’m so sorry. I didn’t know that you were—“

“no, no” she’s wiping down her skirt with a napkin she had in hand already, no doubt to hold the croissant that was now on the floor next to his sugar cookie in a puddle of coffee “I should’ve paid attention, I was looking at my phone and—“ she looks up and they lock eyes and her words die in her throat, most days she didn’t get overly flustered by a guy, it was just something she didn’t do but most days she also didn’t get coffee spilled on her so she considers it an off day “I—I just, um, sorry” she looks at his shirt and her eyes widen a little “are you okay? Most of that got on you and it must be really ho—“

He raises his hand “I’m okay, I don’t like my coffee too hot” he chuckles “who knew my weird quirk would save my ass, right?”

She doesn’t laugh, just looks on in concern “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, yeah” he nods “trust me I’ve gotten worse”

“Sorry if I—“ she sighs “I’m a mom so I guess it’s just in me to worry”

“It’s okay” he looks at the wall behind her and he sighs heavily— _late_ _again_ “I’m really sorry but I have to go. I’m late for work”

“Right, right—sorry again for the coffee and now the tardiness” she moves to the side and holds in her wince at the squelch that her shoes make.

He’s halfway out the door when he turns around “Barry”

She tears her gaze from her shoes and looks to him, her brows furrowed together “I—what?”

“My name. It’s Barry. Barry Allen”  his smile is so bright, she can’t help but smile back.

“Um, Caitlin Snow”

He nods “Nice to meet you, Ms. Snow” and in a flash he’s out the door and running down the street leaving Caitlin to look at her ruined shoes and stained skirt and wonder how it was nice to meet her.

 

-

 

“Ollie!” Thea peeks her head in the fairly spacious apartment where her brother and niece live “Hello? Anybody?”

“Aunt Thea!” Sophia runs into the living room at her aunt’s voice and slams her body into her legs “what are you doing here?”

“Well, I came over to see my favorite little blonde”

“Oh, Speedy, if you wanted to see me you should’ve just called” both girls looked up to see Oliver walk into the living room, still wearing his pajamas and still rubbing sleep from his eyes.

“You wish you my favorite anything, Ollie” she plucked the little girl from the floor and rested her on her hip even if the little girl was quickly catching up with her aunt in height “Now you have any plans for this little monkey today?”

“No but—“

“Then I do think that a shopping day is due, right Soph?” the little blonde squeals and scrambles out of her aunt’s arms

“yes!” and with that little exclamation, Sophia is out of the living room and running to her room to get dressed because if there’s anything to be excited about—it’s her Aunt Thea’s shopping days. It’s the days when Sophia gets spoiled the most.

Oliver sighs heavily and looks at his younger sister who’s already batting her eyes at him “Thea…”

“Oh come on, Ollie—when’s the last time I got to just spend time with her? The last two times I saw her, I was just taking her to Caitlin”

“But—“

“Ollie, _please_ ”

Any argument dies in his throat at his sister’s pleading tone and wide eyes—if there was anything Oliver Queen was a sucker for, it was his sister and daughter. Put them together and he stands no chance.

“Fine” Thea squeals and hugs her brother “but please try to easy up on the clothes—she’s running out of closet space”

The brunette nods “I will try my best”

Oliver just knows that he’s probably going to have to dedicate closet space from their guest room to new clothes.

 

-

 

“Oliver! You here?”  Lyla Diggle-Michaels calls out for her neighbor as she pushes the door open, she had a key in case of emergencies and she figures this counts as one “hello?”

The man in question came out of the kitchen with a bowl of cereal “Oh, hey, Lyla what’s up?”

She shakes her head at his appearance “We’re gonna go say ‘hi’ to the new neighbor—go get dressed. Sophia too”

Oliver looks down at his clothes “I am dressed and Soph went with Thea for the day”

Lyla sighs “The one day…“ she plants on her hands on her hips and lets the ‘Sophia’ topic go and gestures to his clothes “Those aren’t clothes. They’re pajamas.”

His eyebrows furrow together—Lyla had never cared about what he wore. In fact he met the woman and her husband in the exact thing he was wearing now “Lyla, it’s okay”

“No, no” she walked over to him and pushed him towards the room “Now come on, get dressed. I’ve seen you ready for work; I know you have it in you to be a little more sophisticated”

“Wait, wait, wait” he spins around and puts his hand out effectively stopping her from pushing him any longer while the other arm cradled the bowl “what’s going on?”

She blinks—once, twice and then “Nothing’s going on”

“I don’t buy that because you, Ms. Michaels, are a lot of things but a decent liar is not one of them”

She huffs “I said—“

“Correction—you lied. So I will ask you again. What’s going on?”

The woman huffs and plants her hands on her hips, she knew she could continue this little charade if need be but to save time she just went with what came to mind “You’re lonely” Yeah, why not cut to the chase.

“what?” he scoffs out “I am not lonely”

“Oliver, we only ever see you with like three people—your daughter, your sister and your ex-wife” she holds up a finger for each one “And you need somebody other than those three people like a girly friend”

“Wait—“ he gapes at her “you’re trying to set me up? Please tell me you’re joking”

“Oh come on!” she’s so close to stamping her foot, he can see it in her eyes “give me one good reason that this isn’t a good idea”

“I don’t even know her—“

“Which is why you’re being introduced”

“She has a daughter—“

“So do you”

“But she’s probably with someone”

Lyla shakes her head “Nope—I checked. She’s divorced and has been divorced for the last five years”

“You’re crazy” he deadpans “You acted like you didn’t even know her name a few days ago”

She waves her hand “details, details” she grabs the bowl from his hand and pushes him a little forcefully towards his room “Now come on, Oliver. We just want you to be happy and—“

“Wait is Digg in on this?” the man asked after hearing the word ‘we’

Lyla promptly ignores his question “And we think you should at least try to be with someone, I mean unless you and Caitlin are—“

He’s quick to cut her off. That ship had sailed and sunk “No, no. We’re not together”

“Then just give this a chance. She seems really nice, she has a kid so she knows the stresses of being a parent and she’s super-hot”

“Is she in on this set up you’re trying to arrange?”

She shakes her head “Nope”

“You know this is kinda creepy on your part right? Setting up two people and you only know one of them”

Lyla slaps his arm “shut up and go get dressed”

Oliver sighs and relents—if anything, this will go down in flames and Lyla will let this go.

 

-

 

“Mama” Caroline shakes her mom, the woman still snoozing happily with her face pressed into the pillow “Mama, wake up” the little girl grips her mother’s shoulder and rocks her

“Mmmwhat” her words are stitched together due to lack of consciousness and Caroline isn’t eve sure she’s actually awake

“Mama, someone is knocking on the door”

Felicity’s eyes fly open at her daughter’s words “What?”

Caroline huffs at repeating herself “There’s someone at the door”

The blonde jumps up from her makeshift bed and goes through a list of people it could be—so far all she can think of is either Iris or her mother and since both are not likely, the idea of a stranger at her door makes her whole body tense.

Once she reaches the door she stands on her toes to look through the peephole to see what appears to be three people. She pushes Caroline behind her and slowly opens the door “hello?” she looks over all of them fairly quickly—two men, one woman, and a child she didn’t see through her peephole.

“Hi” the woman chirps “I’m Lyla and this is my husband, John and our daughter, Sara” she nudges the little girl who looked to be only a few years older than Caroline in front of her “And this—“ she moves back so the man behind her can be properly seen “Is Oliver—our other neighbor”

He raises his hand “Hi”

“I, um” the blonde raises a hand “Hi, I’m Felicity Smoak” she reaches back and nudges her daughter from behind her “and this is my daughter, Caroline”

Lyla smiles brightly “It’s nice to meet you both. We just wanted to welcome you to our little complex”

Felicity can’t help but smile—she had been fairly lonely in Central City with just Iris, Barry and Caroline by her side and she wasn’t thrilled at the idea of leading the same life in Starling but with just Caroline but it seemed someone took pity on her and sent a few nice people “Well. I, um, I would invite you in but—“ she looks around her apartment, the living room was still covered in boxes and most of her coffee mugs were packed up. She looks back to the trio of adults and one child “I’m still kinda settling in”

“Oh, well, you can come by Oliver’s apartment” Lyla says and Felicity doesn’t notice how said man’s eyes grow two sizes “My husband and I have to work but Oliver has the day and would be more than willing to help you settle in and whatnot”

“I—“ Felicity finally look a good look at Oliver and she felt herself flush a little—there was no denying her neighbor was attractive. He was blond, blue eyed and had the body of  god and the idea of being the same room with him, alone…well, she just knew that was a recipe for a babbling blonde mess she would become “I mean, I’m sure he’s—“

“No, no” he cuts in and she wants to hate him at how polite he sounds “It’s okay” if Oliver is being honest, the blonde mom had captured his attention. She was beautiful of course but there was something just under the surface that had Oliver wanting to talk to her, want to know her and see what she was hiding under her bright smile “I have a daughter too so I’m sure there’s something there that can keep your girl entertained”

Felicity sucks in a breath. Of course, he had a child. He probably had a supermodel wife as well “Well, I mean I have to go drop her off at the train station in a few hours so maybe after that? Around two?”

He smiles at her “Can’t wait”

Felicity doesn’t remember becoming a teenager but that must be what’s happening being her stomach flipped a little and his words—she wants to groan.

She’s sure this is going to end in flames.

 

-

 

“You like her” Lyla teases after Felicity shuts the door “I can tell”

He sighs and makes his way to his apartment “shut up”

 

-

 

Caroline looks at her mother who still stood by the door even after the door clicked shut, the blonde has her back pressed to her door and her eyes were closed and she was mumbling something under her breath. The girl cocked her head to the side “Mama?”

That seemed to do the trick as Felicity’s eyes snapped open “Hmm?”

“Are you okay?”

Her mom’s forehead creased and she knew she was lying when she nodded and hurried out the words “Yeah, yeah” but then she said “Now let’s go get you dressed for your daddy’s” and any thought went out of Caroline’s head.

 

-

 

“Okay” her mom was sitting on her knees and her eyes were shiny “you be good for daddy okay? Don’t give him a hard time and if you need something, anything, call me and I will be over as soon as a can and—“

“Mama” Caroline interrupted softly, placing her hands on her mom’s face “I will be okay”

Felicity laughs and a tear escapes her eye, something her daughter quickly wiped away “I know, bug—I just have never had you this far away from me. Ever”

“three sleeps” the brunette mumbles as she kisses her mom’s cheek “and then I come home”

“Just three, huh?” Caroline nods “I think I might be able to do that” her tone is teasing and light but, really, Felicity’s heart aches at the idea of her daughter being that far for that long.

Her daughter smiles “Good now I have to go” she kisses her mom’s cheek “I love you”

“I love you more” she wraps the little girl in a tight hug and lets out a slow breath before letting go and kissing her nose “Have fun, bug”

Caroline nods and races off to her Uncle Cisco’s arms—he was Barry’s friend and he and Felicity had only met a handful of times but Felicity trusted Barry’s judgement about who would be picking up their daughter—and before she knows it, she’s gone from sight and the train is gone from the station.

 

-

 

Barry Allen was practically vibrating—he had gone a whole week without seeing his daughter in person and not that she was to be here any minute, he couldn’t hold in his excitement.

The trains comes to a slow stop before a horde of people spill out of the bus having Barry scan the crowd excitedly and then he sees it—Cisco’s messy black hair. Barry smiles brightly and before he knows it he can see he’s precious baby girl “Caroline!”

“Daddy!” she yanks her hand out of Cisco’s and surges forward, jumping and wrapping her arms around his neck “I missed you so much” she mumbles into his neck

“Oh, I missed you more, bug” he kisses her head and holds her back a little so he can see her “I love you, bug”

“Love you more”

“Wow, so no one loves Cisco right?”

Barry laughs and stands up “I love you Cisco especially after you went and got her—thank you so much, again”

He shrugs “No problem”

“Really, anything you need, you got it”

Cisco taps his chin “How about you two take me out to lunch tomorrow and we call it even?”

He laughs lightly “Food is always the answer huh, Cisco?”

“always”

“then we will see you tomorrow at S.T.A.R labs, alright?” he looks down at Caroline “Sound like a plan?”

Caroline beams at her uncle and dad “Perfect plan”

 

-

 

She sucks in a deep breath and smooths over her skirt—Felicity was pretty sure this was a bad idea being all she wanted to do was wallow in a bubble on sadness right now but she had made plans and she was determined to have friends other than her daughter. Raising her hand she knocks hard and quick before her heart jumps into her throat, she felt like a teen again and she hates it.

He opens the door looking the perfect amount of casual “Hi” she says before he can say anything “I, um, didn’t know if we were going to do anything or just ya know, chill’ she would wince at her use of the word ‘chill’ but she can’t stop talking long enough to register what she just said “but like I thought this was casual enough but you’re wearing jeans and maybe I’m overdressed. I should just get out of this skirt, right?” her eyes widen “Oh my god—not like that. Not that your aren’t gorgeous but we just met and—why can’t I stop talking, dear Lord”

And to her surprise—he laughs. It’s light and the corner of his eyes crinkle “It’s, um, you’re okay. I thought we might just go get lunch, if that’s okay”

Felicity just nods because she really doesn’t trust herself to speak right now.

 

-

 

They arrive at a nice restaurant and Felicity is grateful that she doesn’t feel out of place, they sit down fairly quickly despite a long line of people and order their drinks. She considers ordering the wine for a second but then she has flashbacks to the last time she did that on a date and, yeah no. Not that this was a date, it was just a man getting to know a woman who just moved in to the apartment complex—that’s all. It was a friend date. Not a date date.

“Felicity?” she blinks—was he talking to her this whole time?

“huh?”

“I said where did you move in from?”

“Oh” she shifts in her seat and plays the edge of the table cloth “Central City, actually but I was born in Las Vegas”

“Why move to Starling?”

“the ole’ cliché of a new job”

“where do you work?

“Queen Consolidated”  He chokes on his water, he’s sputtering and coughing attracting the attention of fellow lunch goers and Felicity feels a little bad that she wants to laugh “Oliver? Are you okay?”

He nods “yeah, yeah just—“ he sighs and wipes his mouth, the corner of his mouth upturned a little “I, um, feel like I should tell you something”

Her eyebrows furrow “Okay, what is it?”

“My name is Oliver Queen”  

It takes a solid five seconds for it to register and then “Oh”

“Yeah”

“I—“ she shifts in her seat and looks around as if everyone around her suddenly changed into judging coworkers “Is this okay?”

“I don’t see why not”

“I just mean—you’re my boss. Like my boss’s boss’s boss—you own Queen Consolidated and I don’t—what if people think that, you know” she raises her eyebrows and he chuckles

“I won’t tell if you won’t”

Felicity smiles—she’s not sure she hates feeling like a teenager anymore.

 

-

 

“Hey Barry”

Barry smiles—it was the morning after getting Caroline and he was beaming, having his daughter back in his arms tends to do that to him “Hi, Josie—can I get my usual and just add a sugar cookie and hot chocolate on”

“Sure” she hits a few buttons and reads him the price and his eye brow goes up

“That can’t be right”

“Sure it is” she leans over the counter and hands him a piece of paper “a lady came in around two yesterday and gave this to the manager. Said she wanted to pay for Barry Allen’s next order”

He looks down and reads the little scribbled words— _sorry about your coffee and cookie. And shirt. And lateness_ he smiles and reads her name in the corner; _Caitlin_ _Snow._

Barry smiles brightly--he just can't help it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is loved and held near and dear to this author's heart.


	4. second meetings and late lunch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took so long! My writing kinda took a blow in the inspiration department and then some, health (mental not physical, don't worry) came up so I took a little break. I apologize!
> 
> This chapter is a little more central around 'Central' so please enjoy!

The bell that hung right above the door of the coffee shop let out an obnoxious ‘ _ding_!’ as someone new entered the little building and a certain Barry Allen’s neck snapped to see who it was but was left to sigh heavily when it wasn’t who he thought it might be “Daddy, who are you looking for?” his daughter’s voice pulled him from his disappointed thoughts—he looked over at her and sighed

“A new friend”

She cocks her head to the side “What’s her name?”

“Caitlin”

“Does mama know her?”  Barry was sure that his little girl was more Felicity Smoak than Barry Allen because of the way the questions didn’t stop flowing from her mouth—neither of them liked watching mystery movies with him.

“No, baby. Mama does not know her”

Caroline’s face scrunches up and it reminds Barry of Felicity—like seriously was there not any of him in his daughter other than his hair? “But mama knows all your friends” he can see how she’s trying to work out the equation—daddy has a new friend, mama doesn’t know this new friend and she’s not sure that mama even knew about this new friend—and that’s where her mind got stuck. Why didn’t her mama know about this new friend?

“Well she’s a new friend, bug”

“Is mama going to meet her?” she grabs a piece of her cookie and sticks it in her mouth “Cause mama doesn’t like when I talk to strangers” she grumbles out, bits of sugar cookie flying out of her mouth, her little mind still desperately trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together, she didn’t like that the picture wasn’t clear to her.

“Well” Barry scratches the back of his neck—it was true that Felicity knew all his friends and that was less that they were her friends and more she wanted to know who Caroline was hanging around. He didn’t blame her especially being he knew all her friends (which was basically Iris because her work friends were never really around Caroline for more than a few minutes) but now she lived in Starling and any friends Barry made weren’t ‘Felicity approved’. But then again, she needed to learn to trust his judgment too just like he would have to with her when she made new friends in her new home “She’s not a stranger to daddy and as long as she knows one parent, then it’s okay”

 She gets a little crease between her brows “But mama—“

“How about we go meet your Uncle Cisco for lunch, hm? It’s getting around that time”

Her eyes narrow at his attempt to distract her and Barry sighs—there might not be a lot of him in his tiny daughter but there was definitely some Nora Allen, he remembers that exact look from his mother. She doesn’t speak for a minute and then looks down as if she’s weighing her options.

“Okay, daddy” she eats of the rest of her cookie in one quick bite and sweeps her crumbs off the table “but I want to meet your new friend, okay?” she figures if she gets another piece of the puzzle then it will all kinds fall into place.

Barry laughs and stands up, holding his hand out for Caroline to grab “Okay, bug”

 

-

 

“Hey Cisco” Caitlin’s gathering up her purse and some papers, she looks like she’s a little rush but he doesn’t comment  “I’m gonna go grab something to eat—do you want me to get you something?”

“Nah, my friend and his daughter are gonna come take me to lunch” he spares a look to the clock in the corner of his computer “They should be here any minute”

“Oh, okay. See you in a little while then” she adjusts her purse “have fun and stay out of trouble, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah. Bye, mom” he teased but it’s clear she didn’t hear the sass because she was already running out of the building.

 

-

 

“Uncle Cisco!” Caroline runs over to her uncle and sits on a chair next to him quickly swinging her little legs to swing herself around in a circle, the man turns around to look at Barry who’s looking at the whole building in utter fascination

“Man, this is great and everything but I basically just walked in—“ he sighs “gotta up your security”

“Did you come here to judge my work place or feed me?” he locks his computer and stands up “Cause I turned down someone picking up food for me so I could eat with the prettiest little girl in the world and her funny looking daddy”

Caroling giggles and stops spinning “Daddy isn’t funny looking”

Cisco shrugs and looks over to the amused little girl “Debatable”

 

-

Caitlin stops her car about a block from the little coffee shop; she quickly gets out, brushes her hair out of her face and starts walking. She yanks the door open once she reaches the place and quickly, but not noticeably, lets her eyes flit over the small building.

No one is there but the usual people she saw on her lunch break—so that means so mystery guy she had met the day before. She sighs a little but doesn’t let it weigh heavy on her, Caitlin was not the type to blindly chase after a guy, she just didn’t do it. Not even when she was head over heels for Oliver Queen.

So she orders her regular order and with her coffee, and croissant, in hand, she plops down at the table right by a large window. The woman pulls out her phone and quickly types out a number she has had memorized for a long time but it just rings and rings and rings till she hears the voicemail ‘Hi, you’ve reached Oliver—‘ she doesn’t let it finish, instead pulling her phone from her face and ending the call—she can’t remember the last time he didn’t pick up his phone.

Her fingers drum on the table for a second before she unlocks her phone again and looks through her contacts. Once she finds the number she wants, she presses down on their name, brings her phone to her ear and waits patiently.

It rings three times before a voice answers “Hello?”

“Hey, Sara” Caitlin stops drumming her fingers against the table and holds her hand on her lap

“Oh, hey, Cait. What’s up?”

“Nothing. I was just calling to see if your wife took Ollie out”

“No, I’m looking at Nyssa right now” a pause “Is everything okay?”

Caitlin sighs “Yeah, yeah. I just called him but he didn’t pick up” her hand removes itself from her lap and her fingers begin to drum again “Probably in a meeting or something, though”

Sara makes some kind of noise in her throat before speaking “Yeah, probably. I can have Nyssa call him and see if he picks up? Have him call you, if you want”

“No, no, no” she’s shaking her head even though Sara can’t see her “It’s okay just wanted to talk to Soph”

“Call later, I’m sure Ollie’s just working hard at QC”

“Yeah” she sighs and looks around the coffee shop “I’m gotta run, alright? I’m on lunch break and I’m gonna head back to work right now”

“Okay, behave yourself Caity and don’t work yourself too hard. Love you”

“love you too” she hangs the phone up and lets out a long breath—she can’t help but feel a little nervous. It wasn’t that she was hung up on Oliver and was upset her ex-husband didn’t pick up the phone, it was just he always picked up his phone. Him not picking up his made her nervous, no matter who was calling.

She pushes any bad thought to the back of her head and takes a long drink from her cup—‘just don’t think about it, Caitlin’ she mentally told herself ‘don’t worry yourself so much that you just drop everything and end up in Starling on impulse’

(she’d done that once but in her defense, it was the first week that Sophia and Oliver moved to Starling)

Deciding caffeine isn’t what she needs right now, she throws her cup and wraps her croissant in a napkin and puts in her purse—maybe Cisco would want it.

 

-

 

“Wait, okay” Felicity swallows some of her food as she looks at the man in front of her “So you nearly flunked out of high school because of what?” an amused smile is on her face and she’s trying her very best to laugh.

“Science, math and to be honest—English wasn’t my best subject either”

“How the hell did you pass? I mean really, like, was there bribery involved or what because I just don’t see that happening”

“My teachers forced the smartest girl in school to tutor me”

Felicity snorts “sounds like the beginning of a bad romantic comedy” she spoons some more food into her mouth

He tilts his head to the side and nods slowly “Well, I did end up marrying her sooo”

The blonde chokes on her food and her fork clatters against the plate “I—“ a disappointment fills her chest as she wipes the corner of her mouth with her napkin but she pushes it down as best she can “I—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult your wife or anything and how you met her but you gotta admit that—that it’s kinda cliché but cliché isn’t always bad. I mean whatever works but—you know what. I’m gonna stop talking cause wow this is the second time I’ve done this today”

Oliver waits a second to see if she’s going to continue and smiles when he knows she’s done “It’s okay. It really is cliché”

The blonde sighs “I just—I hope I didn’t insult her”

“Well, she’s not my ‘wife’ anymore but she did call it cliché all the time so no harm”

Felicity pauses “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were divorced”

He waves his hand dismissively “It’s alright, it’s been about a year and half”

“I can only assume that your daughter…”

“Yeah she’s ours but my ex-wife lives in Central City now so she lives with me most of the time”

The blonde laughs a little and grabs her wine glass “Wow, so I guess Central is where the ex-spouses go to live after the divorce, hm? Or at least our exes”

“Sounds about right” he takes a sip from his glass “So tell me about yourself, Ms. Smoak” he leans back into his chair

“Oh” she puts down her glass and straightens her back, like she was in a job interview “Well, I was born in Vegas and when I was 18, I went to MIT and then I met my ex-husband, we got married, moved to Central, I had my daughter, we divorced, lived in Central for a little while and now here I am—nothing too interesting, I guess” she cocks her head to the side “And what about you, Mr. Queen? I mean, I’m sure I could find countless things about you online but how about you tell me, hm?” she quirks her brow

He smiles and nods “Okay, well, let’s see; I was born in Starling, I have a little sister who’s a pain in my ass, I met my ex when I was in high school, we dated for a while and when she moved  to Central and we did the long distance thing for a little while but then I moved out there, we got married, had the baby and—“ he sighs “Things just kinda changed  after some time so we made the decision to divorce and then I moved back home with my girl”

 She smiles softly “You take care of your daughter on your own?”

“No, no, no” he shakes his head “Her mom is really involved, my sister and dad spoil her and both her grandmas are there—everyone helps out a lot. What about you?”

“Well—her dad is involved” Felicity considers her words—she didn’t want to bad mouth Barry, he loved their daughter more than anything and he wants to be there every day but the move changed their schedule but that didn’t make him a bad dad—if anything it made her feel like she was a bad mom “He loves her and she saw him every day when we lived in the same town but since the move, it’s been a little different. My mom lives in Vegas, and his family is in Central so, it feels like it’s just me and her”

“Must’ve been hard to move”

The comment takes her aback—talking about the move she sees how it should’ve been hard. Her only family is her daughter, Barry and Iris but when she got the call from QC, she didn’t even take a moment to think before she took it. Central had been home for a long time but it was never home, _home_.

But she just met this guy and she isn’t gonna say that—it’s too deep for a first…whatever this was. So she settles for a shrug and a small smile “Kinda” the blonde takes a drink from her glass—maybe, just maybe her heart knew Starling could be home in a way Central wasn’t.

 

-

 

“Cisco! I’m back!” Caitlin’s heels clack loudly on the floor, her purse swinging off her arm “I got you something small!” she rounds the corner and stops at the sight in front of her—three people, two men and a small girl, are on the floor. Cisco is facing her, the unknown man isn’t and the girl has her eyes glued to her “Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt” she looks at the little girl—hey isn’t she—

“Sophia’s mommy?”

Yeah. That was the little girl she has met earlier in the week “Hi, sweetheart” she drops her purse on her chair and the unknown man finally faces her and— _oh_.

“Barry?”

“Caitlin?”

“You guys know each other?” Cisco asks, food still in his mouth

“Yeah, kinda” she sighs “You remember how I told you about the guy who spilled coffee on me”

“Oh, yeah” Cisco nods “You said he was cute and you felt really bad about the whole thing so you left money for him and you were kinda hoping that you’d meet up with him aga—“

“Cisco!” Caitlin’s eyes are wide and her cheeks are tinted pink and Barry is smiling like a complete fool even though he still remains on the floor.

“What?” he pause “oh” he looks at Barry “ _Oh_ ”

 She bows her head and tries to focus on anything else “Yeah”

The little girl who was, at least in her opinion, being so rudely left out of the conversation looks at Barry “Daddy this is your new friend?”

“I, uh, yeah” he shakes his head, his dopey little smile dissipating and a clearly confused look taking it’s place “You know her, bug?”

Caroline nods firmly “She’s Sophia’s mommy, she picked her up one day. She met mama”

Caitlin smiles “right, right” she thinks for a second trying to formulate any kind of thought but all that comes out is; “I, um—yeah”

Barry finally seems to fully understand what was happening around him and gathers his wits. He scrambles to his feet “I—“ he sticks his hand out and from behind him Cisco winces at his awkwardness “Hi. Barry Allen”

The woman manages a small smile and takes it “Right. Caitlin Snow” they hold their hands together for a second too long and Caroline lets out a cough

“Daddy” it was more of a reprimand that anything. It was the Felicity Smoak in her.

“I, uh, right” Barry’s fumbled words leave him blushing and Caitlin smiling, much how she had been blushing earlier while he smiled, he pulls his hand back “Sorry”

“No need to be” their eyes are locked and Caroline tilts her head to the side—why aren’t they talking? She looked over her shoulder to her Uncle Cisco who’s trying his best not to laugh; she looks back up at her dad and yanks on his shirt

“Daddy you and Sophia’s mommy aren’t talking” her eyes flit between the two of them and her brain is being racked for answers—she thought meeting daddy’s new friend would give her the puzzle piece she’d need but instead it gave her one piece and added two more “Are you okay?”

He sighs and a blush is creeping up his neck, he looks down and nods “yeah, baby. I’m fine”

Caroline seriously doubts that.

 

-

 

His phone buzzes and that’s when they finally notice the time—it’s four and they’re still eating their lunch. Thea texted him three times asking where he was, he quickly shot her a ‘be there soon’ text and looked back up to Felicity.

“I’m sorry but it seems my girl is home”

She smiles “No, it’s okay. I should probably get home too. I promised Caroline I’d call her as soon as I could”

Oliver waves the waiter over and asks for the check and he whips out his card so quickly to pay that Felicity doesn’t even have a chance to debate it. He looks over at her and shrugs “You can leave the tip if you want”

Felicity huffs, though it’s not in annoyance, more…well, amusement is the closest thing to why she huffs, she supposes. She slaps down a twenty dollar bill and they get up from their table once Oliver is handed is card back. They get to his car and they slip inside, falling into an easy conversation once the car was started and they were back on the road.

It took all of ten minutes to get back to their apartment complex and Felicity can see from their point a little girl and a woman standing outside of Oliver’s door.

“That her mom?”

His face scrunches up “No, no, no—that’s my sister, Thea”  the car comes to a stop and they’re just fully getting out of the car when she hears the excited shriek of ‘Daddy!’. She looks to see the little girl running down the steps as fast as she can, her blonde ponytail swishing around as she does. She runs into her dad’s legs and immediately starts flying into a conversation and that’s when Felicity finally, actually, sees her—Sophia, if she remembered right and— _oh God_ , Oliver’s ex-wife was beautiful.

She’s so lost in her thoughts she doesn’t hear Oliver ask for her, instead she sees the weird looks he’s sending her first before she completely comprehends what he’s saying—“What?”

“Are you okay?”

The woman nods and is going to talk but then the little girl’s head cocks and she can see her brain connecting the pieces “Caroline’s mama!” she says happily, as if it was a puzzle she finally cracked “Hi!”

Oliver’s brow furrows “You know her, babe?”

Sophia nods “Yeah, she’s Caroline’s mommy—remembers I told you about her. You and mommy when we went to visit Aunt Sara and Aunt Nyssa”

Out of the corner of her eye she sees Oliver’s sister come close to them, looking at her up and down.

“Oh” he eyes grow wide and Felicity wonders what the little girl said about her, or at least what Caroline said about her “Right, you did tell me about her”

Sophia just sighs “I know I did, daddy” she turns to Felicity “What are doing with daddy?” she doesn’t sound mad, just curious and Felicity is grateful for that

“We were having lunch” she can feel his sister’s , Thea’s, eyes on her “That’s all”

The little girl scrunches up her face “Where’s Caroline?”

“With her daddy”

Sophia pouts “Oh. Okay, is she gonna come back soon?”

Felicity smiles at the little girl “Sunday night—she’ll be here all week and even the weekend this time”

“Oh!” she turns to her dad and tugs on his sleeve, even though he was already looking at her “Daddy can we do a play date?”

“Soph—“

“Please, please, please” her bottom lip is sticking out and her eyes are wide—ready with tears—so he just sighs

“Ask her mom if it’s okay”

She whirls around to face the blonde “Is it okay?”

Felicity isn't sure if she could say 'no' with the look the little girl is giving her “I—yeah, sure. It’ll be fun”

“Yay! Aunt Thea did you hear that! I’m gonna have a play date” she looks so proud of herself, it makes Felicity’s heart ache to be near Caroline.

“Yes, boo, I heard” the woman, who had been quiet, came closer and gently moved the little girl towards the stairs “Now why don’t you go upstairs and wait” she grabs the keys from Oliver’s hand and gives them to the little girl “You know the key”

Sophia nods and turns to Felicity “Bye Caroline’s mama-“ she gives a little wave and then is off in a blur of blonde and pink.

“Thea—“ Oliver doesn’t have time to speak before Thea slaps his arm “Ow! Speedy!”

“Pick up when I call you” she says evenly, no actual anger in her voice “You could’ve been dead for all I knew”

“I wasn’t dead”

“Well how was I supposed to know?--you didn’t pick up your phone” he opens his mouth to reply but she raises her  hand “shut up, Ollie” her eyes go to Felicity and it takes everything she has not to shrink back—she would not do that.

“Hi” she sticks her hand out “I’m Thea Queen”

Felicity takes a second to respond but is quick to grab her hand “Um, Felicity Smoak. Nice to meet you”

Thea nods “Nice to meet you too” she drops the woman’s hand and turns to Oliver “Now end this date, please, I need to talk to you”

“Oh this—“ Felicity starts but she turns on her heel before she can finish her sentence and is up the steps, leaving them alone.

The blonde looks at Oliver and quirks her head to the side letting Thea's words wash over her “What was this?”

“hm?”

“I mean—was this just a really long lunch or..?” Felicity didn't like beating around the bush when it came to dating. It was too messy to act like a teen when she has a little girl to worry about.

He chuckles “Technically it was a set-up” he pauses “John and Lyla—“

She raises her hand “Oh, I know. I may be blonde but I’m not that blonde”

“Sorry if they creeped you out—they want me to date, or at least, get a life outside of Sophia”

Felicity smiles “I get it, had a friend like that in Central”

Oliver lets out a breath “But I really did enjoy this…”

The corner of her mouth is tugged on—she can’t help it “So?”

“So, was this just a late lunch?”

Felicity smiles “I’ll let you know” with that she leans over and kisses his cheek  softly, pulling back she quickly turns around and goes into her apartment leaving a smiling, well more like beaming, Oliver Queen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, please, please comment! Comments mean the world to me! I love hearing from you and hearing what you think! :)

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! Please leave a comment and a kudos if you did! Also Happy New Year's Eve! :)


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